HSY2410

History of sexuality: 1800 to the present

Bain Attwood

8 points - Two lectures and one tutorial per week - Second semester - Clayton

Objectives Students will be expected to acquire an understanding of the major theoretical approaches in the field of study; the principal concepts used by historians; the broad historical changes in sexuality since 1800, and the factors causing these.

Synopsis This subject will examine the changing nature of sexuality in Australia, Britain and North America during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The main topics will be the construction of masculinity and femininity, courtship and marriage, family and kinship networks, birth control, regulation in the private and public spheres, heterosexuality and homosexuality, the theorisation of sex, sexual reformers and the emergence of liberation movements.

Assessment Document exercise (1500 words): 20% - Long essay (2500 words): 40% - Examination (2 hours): 30% - Class participation: 10%

Prescribed texts

D'Emilio J and Freedman E Intimate matters: A history of sexuality in America Harper and Row, 1988
Grimshaw P Janson S and Quartly M (eds.) Freedom bound I Allen and Unwin, 1995
Lake M and Holmes K (eds) Freedom bound II Allen and Unwin
Weeks J Sex, politics and society: The regulation of sexuality since 1800 2nd edn, Longman, 1989

Recommended texts

Duberman M and others (eds) Hidden from history: Reclaiming the gay and lesbian past Penguin, 1989
Foucault M The history of sexuality vol. 1 An introduction Pelican, 1981
Smith-Rosenberg C Disorderly conduct: Visions of gender in Victorian America OUP, 1985

Back to the 1999 Arts Handbook